A dumpy, dumpling weekend

The word “dumpy” isn’t exactly sexy in blog lingo but just go with it.

So it rained (read: dumped) all weekend which was much needed but made for a soggy back yard. My zip-code says Sacramento but my backyard says LAKE FRONT. #word

Insert homemade Chicken & Dumplings a la the genius over at How Sweet It is.

Walker offered to help me cook and we had a good time sharing the load on this one. This is not a quick and easy weeknight meal but it is a perfect Saturday night and it’s raining type meal.

In the past, I’ve made a simpler version of this using Bisquick and a store bought rotisserie chicken but this is infinitely better. And since I’ve Been There, Tried That you can now proceed to also try. I didn’t change anything except be lazy and not by thyme. I can’t buy enough THYME I tell ya. Life is speedy and I want the slow lane.

…err…just go and enjoy a bowl of dumplings while it dumps outside will ya?

Here are the ingredients as the recipe genius lists them:

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/3 cup sliced celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream

dumpling:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk

Saute: The chicken in 2 TBS butter and 2 TBS olive oil. WOW chicken in butter is 10 zillion times better. Paula Dean was right. The chicken should brown and sizzle and appear cooked but not over cooked. And certainly not under cooked. Cut into the thickest piece and make sure salmonella isn’t waving it’s grubby hand at you. OK set aside and let cool.

Mix: in the onions, thyme/rosemary, celery, carrots, garlic and additional 2 TBS butter. Keep the left over chicken juices because that’s where the real flavor is. Throw in some S+P and a 1/4 cup of flour and let it all cook together on medium for about 5 minutes. You’re making a sort of “rue” here- enjoy the fact that this is a seemingly fancy cooking technique that you are mastering! This mixture should soften and appear savor-inducing. Don’t eat. You need this stuff for later.

Combine: the dumpling ingredients in a separate bowl.

Relocate: the vegetable mix into a larger pot. A deep one that you would use for soup. Mix in your six cups of chicken stock, one at a time. Then mix in 1/3 cup heavy cream. Let it all get hot and bubbly because here comes the good stuff.

Shred: the chicken in a food processor (use your plastic blade!!) and toss it in w/ the rest of the goodies.

Drop: spoonfuls of dumplings into the bubbling soup pot. They will not break apart. They will congeal (lovely word) and within minutes be cooked thoroughly. Promises. We dropped in about 5 at a time and waited a minute. Then 5 more, etc etc. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to be one big ol’ dumpling.

The outcome was deeelish and more gorgeous photos are located on the original site, here.

Recap:

Time – took about an hour
Skill level – Not hard at all but if I didn’t have a food processor it would have been a little more laborious
Ingredients – easy to find or we had them at home

Zoe approved.

 

 

Been There, Tried That: Texas Trash

Welcome back! You didn’t miss anything. I took a little breaky-break because having a blog + writer’s block = no blog + writer’s block (tricky math I know).

So I thought and thought and thought some more about something that might be fun to write and read. I love to cook and live a pretty clean-eats lifestyle so I’m always trying new-to-me recipes.

However, home girl is no Martha so I usually steal from Pinterest or other bloggers. Sometimes I’ll add or tweak, but let’s just say, the likelihood of someone offering me a cook book deal based on trying other people’s recipes is pretty slim. However, if you can make this happen we’ll be fraaannnds forever.

So my thought is to write (hopefully) weekly installment of recipe successes and blunders that I’ve hijacked from other people called “Been There, Tried That” (with proper credit attributed. Promise).

I knew that I wanted to make something homemade for the Snack Bowl Super Bowl party last weekend. One of my all-time favorite snack foods is “pub mix”. So when I came across this idea for Texas Trash I thought…how hard can it be?

Spoiler alert: It’s not hard at all. The only struggle I had was accepting the fact that I would spend close to $20 on all the ingredients when I could have just gone to Costco and bought a bag big enough to feed an army. But then the little angel and devil pop into the scene and convince you that you’ll get so much joy out of making it from scratch that the $20 you spent will be well worth it.

Sorry pretzels, I’ll work on my photography skills. Promise.

Well it was delicious and much better than Chex Mix, however, was it better than Gardetto’s? No my friend.

Confession: I decided to buy all of these ingredients from Walmart because I knew it would be cheaper. Don’t feel suckered to buy the Chex brand. They are not sending you or I free goodies so we are free agents until they do so. Anytime it says “Chex” just say “Any damn brand I want.” You got it.

Recommendations: If you and your loved one fight over the brown rye, circle, crunchy things like we do (think pub mix) – be sure and add them in. I didn’t try to look for them but I can’t imagine they are hard to find. Walker’s first bite prompted the question “where are the brown things!?” Drama in the snack bowl I tell ya.

 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 250*

Buy a large roasting pan if you don’t have one. I bought a disposable because this recipe made enough to last a lifetime.

1/2 (of a 14 ounce) box of Rice Chex cereal

1/2 (of a 14 ounce) box of Corn chex cereal *I used wheat to be healthy, er, something

1/2 (of a 1 pound) bag of pretzel sticks

1 (7.5 ounce) bag of Bugles (regular)

1 regular can (8.75 ounce) of deluxe mixed nuts

1 cup of pecans or cashews * I forgot this and was sad because of it. 

1 + 1/2 sticks butter

1 tablespoon steak seasoning

1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce *I omitted this

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon Hot Sauce *I only did 1 teaspoon of Sriracha, much to the Husband’s dismay.

Melt:  The butter and all seasonings in a sauce pan

Mix: All of the ingredients together in the roasting pan

Bake: For an hour but be sure and stir that baby every 15 minutes. This helps even out the roasting and the seasoning.

Serve: This made enough for the party and we had leftovers. Texas Trash forevvvver.

This recipe was adapted from this pin.